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Burden on Bendtner as injuries bite

Injuries, injuries, injuries. Arseblog this morning reiterated some of the snaps, twangs, fractures, strains and pings that have blighted us this season. It is indeed a minor miracle that, with the injuries we’ve had and got, we’ve arrived at the beginning of April still in contention both in the league and in the European Cup.

But can we cope? With every goalscoring midfielder we lose, things get incrementally harder unless someone else steps up to the plate.

It’s one thing going without Djourou, Ramsey, Gallas and Gibbs (8 goals in total this term) but to lose both Arshavin and Fabregas (30 goals) on top of van Persie (8) could well prove to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It means that almost half of all our goals scored this season have come from players who are now injured (46 from 101), and while we are very capable of scoring goals from all across the field, the losses of Fabregas and Arshavin are big, big blows.

Bendtner – a player who has himself missed a huge chunk of the season – is now our top fit scorer with nine goals, closely followed by the indomitable and hopefully titanium-coated Thomas Vermaelen on eight.

A huge goalscoring burden now falls on the big Dane, and we’re going to need more from Walcott, Eduardo, and our goalscoring midfielders (Diaby, Nasri and Denilson) as well.

To gauge just how big a loss Fabregas’s goals will be, consider this: Walcott, Diaby, Nasri and Denilson combined have scored one goal less than Cesc has this season. (Update: I got this a bit wrong. Combined they have 21 to Cesc’s 19 – but the point remains).

Then there’s Eduardo. He’s scored six goals this season, but only three (from 22 appearances) in the Premier League. Wenger has used him so sparingly that it’s hard not to conclude that something isn’t right. Whether he’s carrying knocks, or his head is not right, or he’s lost a yard of pace – who knows. But it seems a tall order to throw him in at the deep end and expect miracles.

All of which leaves us with the van Persie issue. He’s back training with Arsenal, and while Wenger wanted to give him a month to get back to top condition, could the current situation force a rethink?

The serious injury situation at Arsenal this season has been staggering- including 3 broken legs, broken toes,a hernia and ligament injuries by the bucketload. No other clubs injury problems have approached ours.
I’m not sure that a half fit Arshavin is a huge loss- as he has been for the last few weeks. Wenger did say last week that Eduardo has been much better in training during the past 2 weeks. Cesc is a huge loss of course- but a fit Rosicky and Nasri does cover his position. I am not sure that Campbell is any worse than Gallas what he lacks in speed he makes up for elsewhere. The real concern is that if these players get injured-and they are all injury prone or tired- we have no others. We should rest Clichy for Wolves and play Diaby for as little as possible-play Silvester at LB where his lack of positional understanding would not be catastrophic and keep Merida and Vela on the bench

I think to be fair to Eduardo it’s more of a system issue.Where can you play him in 4-3-3? He doesn’t have the pace or trickery for either of the wide positions or the strength/ability to hold the ball up for the central one. He’s always been best in 4-4-2 with a more physical player beside him.To be honest (assuming Chamakh is coming) I think he’ll be off in the Summer.

Phew, you didn’t jinx Bendtner. Be careful what you writer for Barcelona game! Only jesting. It was good to see Eduardo get a chance to play but shame he didn’t take any of the chances that came his way. He needs more support now than before. I wanna see him scoring again. He will score again – just need that belief…